1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of Internet gaming services and pertains particularly to methods and apparatus for providing personalized build and administrative services for creating and administering two-dimensional and three-dimensional virtual environments.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of online gaming services, typically practiced over a network such as the Internet network, virtual world environments are available for interaction by a broad consumer base. These virtual environments are created to attract users to become site members and to become loyal to a particular gaming services provider. Virtual environments include virtual games and virtual worlds with one or more games or objectives.
One problem with managing interaction in a virtual world is many potential clients do not posses the computing power to react efficiently to changes in the environment. Moreover, one user's computational prowess relative to their accessing gaming appliance may be quite different from that of another user. Therefore, the users may not be on equal footing when interacting within a virtual world.
Another issue with provisioning of virtual world components is that the physics properties and user interaction policies are largely equated across the board lending to a highly predictable and often stagnate or non-evolving interaction experience. For example, all players having the same powers and ability to edit certain aspects of the environment. Higher-level interaction tasks are reserved for users that have earned such privileges through hitting interaction goals or targets. These achievements may eventually lead to higher roles such as moderator or administrator. Almost all building and modification tasks are carried out by the system (administration) according to investment-driven expectation. In these systems, the user experience is not really their own. The users have no control over the basic aspects of the world or how to interact within the world.
Therefore, what is clearly needed is a system and methods that solve the above problems through personalizing the experience for each individual associated with a virtual environment.